Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 1/4/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hello-  Praise THE LORD and I am grateful for your time in answering questions for us!

So here is a quick back drop of where I'm at before I ask for help with understanding that JESUS is GOD.

I was saved about 5 years ago and have attended, for the most part, Baptist Churches during my walk with JESUS.  However for a brief period of time I became quickly tied up with some Witnesses from the Watchtower Tract Society.  I was attending both my local Church and the local Kingdom Hall (secretly however so as not to alert any of my fellow Christians).  I felt 100% convicted that I needed to become a Watchtower Witness, but eventually broke ties with them altogether, mainly because I was afraid of what becoming a Witness would do to my life and relationships.  

Its been about 2 and a half years since any real contact with them and since then I have seemed to discovered a few doctrinal errors (although I'm no expert) which make me feel better about my decision to get away from them.  However despite quite a bit of study I have not been able to completely grasp, as many others do so effortlessly, the doctrine of THE TRINITY.  And again I have done alot of research on this topic... probably more than most believers, but still only really get to a conclusion of "well I can see why some feel that JESUS is GOD and I can see why some feel that he isn't."

Now my attempt is by no means to argue or prove you wrong, but yet still if you are willing I was hoping you would be able to field some of my Scriptural questions that keep me from worshiping JESUS CHRIST as GOD. And I want to put my trust in Jeremiah 29:13 and find a true understanding of GOD by seeking HIM with all my heart.

So with all that, if you are still with me... here goes a couple quick ones to get us started:

1) John 1:18 says "No one has seen GOD at any time..." however many saw JESUS on earth.  One might argue that JESUS' Deity was partially veiled while on earth, yet even in HIS apparently glorified state in Revelation ch. 1, John seemed to see JESUS very well so as to describe HIM in such great detail.  So has no one seen GOD except John?

2) How is JESUS tempted while on earth (Matt. 4) when James 1:13 says that "...GOD cannot be tempted by evil.."?

Again I'd like to stress that I'm not here to argue, but rather respectfully ask for the help of one who has more knowledge than I (Proverbs 20:5) whom I also trust is a strong, walking upright believer in THE LORD JESUS.

I look forward to your reply!

In CHRIST -John-

ANSWER: OK, we can discuss some things.

1. To truly see God, you would have to see the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and no man in this life has ever seen God.  We see the Father in Christ for He and the Father are One in essence as is the Holy Spirit.  This can even be seen in the OT.  

Isa 48:12-17

12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.  KJV

As you see the speaker here is God and yet, He says that the Lord God and His Spirit sent the God who is speaking.  His Spirit is shown as a co-sender of the God who is speaking and therefore an equal or God.  You either have to believe in three separate God, which neither of us do or a tri-unity or trinity.  A God in three persons.

Even the core tenant of Judaism's monotheism actually shows a composite unity.  

Deut 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: KJV

OT:430
'elohiym (el-o-heem'); plural of OT:433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

OT:259

'echad (ekh-awd'); a numeral from OT:258; properly, united, i.e. one; or (as an ordinal) first:
KJV - a, alike, alone, altogether, and, any (-thing), apiece, a certain, [daily-], each (one), eleven, every, few, first, highway, a man, once, one, only, other, some, together,
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

The word for God is a plural and the word for one is a united oneness like one cluster of grapes has many many individual grapes or as in the following verse.

Judg 20:8 And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. KJV

Thus, the world's strongest affirmation of monotheism is actually an affirmation of a composite unity.

2. God cannot be tempted to sin.  The devil did tempt Him and it did not work because He was God.  Had it worked it would have proven He was just another human.  So He was tempted in all points as we are and yet He sinned not.  You can test or tempt someone to also prove good as well as lure to evil.  When you have a test in school they do not test you to make you fail but you fail because you failed to study.  Others took the same test and aced it.  The problem was not in the test, but in the person.  Satan uses the same tactics on us and we fail.  He used them on Christ and He did not fail.


Keep studying!


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for the reply..  Isaiah 48 was a portion of Scripture I had never looked at before and it appears very strong.  In quick research on it the biggest struggle I found with it is whether the quotation marks should go all the way through the end of verse 16 or stop at "...From the time that it was, I was there."  And then the one who was sent was possibly Isaiah rather than JESUS.  Otherwise why would vs. 17 need to begin with "Thus says THE LORD..." if HE had been speaking the whole time.  Yet still I admit it seems very strong but if you would I'd lie to hear your side of that.

As with JESUS' temptations I had heard once that YHWH could be tempted because it is written "You shall not tempt THE LORD your GOD", apparently showing that in the same way that JESUS was tempted, GOD could be tempted as well.  However we can tempt GOD by our evil to cause HIM to punish us, but James 1:13 says that GOD can't be tempted by evil.  I understand this as HE can't even be tempted to do evil, even though HE would not do it.  But I say this with all respect to our SAVIOUR JESUS, although HE did not act upon the temptation, wasn't HE still tempted?  Maybe this had to be because of HIS humanity though... I don't know, I just have trouble getting my head around that but if you could elaborate I would be grateful.

Thank you for your help and I hope to hear from you soon.  So you know though I feel like I am leaning more in the direction of THE TRINITY than I ever have.  I understand that I will never fully grasp it with my human mind, but I cannot just accept something with faith unless I see some proof  through GOD'S Scripture, no more than I could accept it if someone told me that faith alone would lead me to a transformed life and bring salvation.  Although this is true, if the Bible has something to say on it I need to go to that rather than just accept it with faith as I have been told in the past.

Thank you again kind sir!

Answer
No, it is God speaking and the One sent by God and His Spirit, not Isaiah.  The "Thus says the Lord" was to verify that it was God speaking and not Isaiah.

A temptation is basically a test and you can test negatively and positively.  

OT:5254
nacah (naw-saw'); a primitive root; to test; by implication, to attempt:
KJV - adventure, assay, prove, tempt, try.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

If I jump up and down on a oven door I am testing it or tempting it to break unless I am a salesman and then I am testing it or tempting it to show how good it is and can take the beating.

Tempting the Lord is checking to see if He is what He says He is or will do what He says He will do.  That is why Jesus did not jump so that angels would protect Him.  That would be doubting God and checking Him out because you want to see if He will do it instead of believing He would do it if it were truly necessary.  You are testing or tempting Him from a position of unbelief, not trust.  

Jesus was tempted in that He was put to the test to show that He could withstand it, not because He would fail for He could not fail being God.